The main area of AAL's concern recently has been the Government response to the Nuffield Languages Inquiry. Members feel that too much emphasis is given to the vocational aspect of modern languages learning, that Language Colleges will not be satisfactory in providing the educational facilities, and that there is too much focus on key skills rather than general language proficiency.

The journal Language Awareness (Multilingual Matters) is becoming the official journal of the Assosciation. Some of the ALA 2000 conference, held in Canada, will be appearing in the September 2001 issue.

The BDA, together with the charity AFASIC and UCL, recently produced a Language and Literacy Training Pack for a range of early years' providers, entitled Language and literacy: joining together.

BDA is currently working with Professor Brian Butterworth (UCL) on issues of the needs of mathematics teachers working with children who are dyslexic or dyslcalculic. This project is funded by the DES (formerly DfEE).

Books:

Following the highly successful Multilingualism Conference run

by the BDA at UMIST in June 1999 and opened by OfSTED: Lindsay Peer & Gavin Reid (eds.) (2000), Multilingualism, literacy & dyslexia: a challenge for educators. David Fulton Publishers.

(ii) Lindsay Peer & Gavin Reid (eds.) (2001), Dyslexia: successful

inclusion in the secondary school. Edinburgh University.

Both books are endorsed by the DES.

BDA held its fifth International Conference at York University in April 2001. It was opened by the then DfEE and hosted over 300 speakers and 950 delegates from 40 countries. Such a conference brings together thinking in areas relevant to research, policy and practice.

BDA are currently working with the DES following a meeting with the then Minister for Education, Charles Clarke, setting up pathways to training for a range of educators in mainstream schools. This material will be published in hard copy and on one of the web sites in due course.

Lindsay Peer is currently working with the TTA on the production of a CD-ROM for SEN.

This year's Awareness Campaign begins on 29 October 2001 and is entitled Understanding Dyslexia and Maths, and is aimed at policy makers, Numeracy Strategy consultants, teachers and tutors in adult education.

Accreditation for information. The BDA has run an Accreditation Board since the early 1980s, currently chaired by Professor Bob Burden (Exeter University). The Board includes senior teacher trainers and psychologists in the field of dyslexia. All courses have external validation as well as internal accreditation. The Board works closely with the QCA and the AQA.

English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). The National ESOL Training and Development Project, funded by DfEE (DES), has been set up to support ESOL practitioners in implementing the new national ESOL curriculum. See BSA leaflet below for full details and visit the BSA web site http://www.basic-skills.co.uk/programmes > ESOL for further information about ESOL.

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The National ESOL Training and Development Project

The National ESOL Training and Development Project has been set up to support ESOL practitioners in implementing the new national ESOL curriculum.

It is being carried out by ESOL (English for Speakers of other languages) specialists from a consortium of organisations:

the London Language & Literacy Unit (LLLU)

the Basic Skills Agency (BSA)

The Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA)

the National Association for Teachers of English and other Community Languages to Adults (NATECLA)

the National Institute of Adult and Continuing Education (NIACE).

The project is funded by the DfEE.

This project and its programme of work is among the initiatives which started with the publication of A Fresh Start, the report of the working group on basic skills led by Sir Claus Moser. It arises from the recommendations endorsed by the DfEE ESOL working group in their report ‘Breaking the Language Barriers'.

There are four main strands to the Project.

1. A national programme of training and support materials to help tutors implement the new national ESOL curriculum. All ESOL tutors currently teaching six or more hours per week will be entitled to two days of training, with cover provided. See overleaf for more information about the training programme.

No, the training is an entitlement, it is not compulsory. But it will be compulsory to teach to the new basic skills standards, and the curriculum is a tool that teachers can use to help their students reach the standards.

When do we have to use the new curriculum?

No-one has to use the new curriculum. It is a comprehensive reference document that we hope will be useful in a number of ways: for planning a syllabus and scheme of work, for devising assessment tasks and assignments, to use when setting objectives for groups and individuals.

My staff are already trained. Do they need to do more training?

This is training about new developments. It is being devised specially for this project and so will be new to everyone.

Who will deliver the training?

A team of experienced ESOL teacher trainers, led by the LLLU at South Bank University, will deliver the training.

Where will the training be held?

NIACE are arranging venues around the country. If you can offer a training room large enough to hold up to 40 participants, please let NIACE know by 31st March 2001.

What about new staff who are appointed after the start of the training?

The project will produce training materials for managers and teacher trainers to use with new staff.

What is the time-scale for the training?

spring term 2001: consult on the content and format of the training

summer term 2001: pilot the training programme

autumn term 2001: day one of the training for everyone

spring term 2002: day two of the training for everyone

What about cover?

Cover will be paid.

Details of claim arrangements will be available at the training events.

Is the training accredited?

People can collect evidence towards the FENTO standards and the new basic skills teacher training standards which will hopefully be available in the next academic year.

NALDIC's 9th annual conference will take place at the University of Birmingham, November 17 2001. The theme is the teaching of English to refugees. Keynote speaker - Professor Jim Cummins of OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education - http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/), University of Toronto.

The annual conference BIELT (British Institute for Language Teaching (http://www.bielt.org/) has been moved to October and is planned for October 27th at the University of Birmingham, to launch the ELT library collection at the University of Birmingham.

A-/AS-level examinations regime. Some informal comments from NATE were offered.

NATE is represented on College of Teachers (a successor to the College of Preceptors). It is a small professional association, somewhat on the lines of the ITL, but without the registration and regulatory role. The new College recently held its first annual conference at the London Institute, on 'A Curriculum for Learning', looking at alternative models of curriculum and assessment to the present test-ridden, 'subject'-based National Curriculum. Some informal notes by KD on 'Some principles of language learning' were offered.

A joint training/professional development initiative for post-qualified speech language therapists and teachers is in progress. Details below:

I CAN, the national educational charity for children with speech and language difficulties, has received funding from DfEE to develop the structure of a joint training structure for teachers and speech language therapists. The project is to increase levels of collaboration between therapists and teachers by developing a shared understanding of:

development of speech language and communication and types of impairment;

how speech language and communication difficulties affect children's thinking, learning and emotional and social development;

how teaching and therapeutic techniques can be integrated, to enable pupils with speech language and communication difficulties to progress educationally and develop as young people.

Teachers need:

a clear emphasis on language and child development in their basic training;

more basic information about SEN (9.3) through their basic training as determined by the TTA;

a better understanding of the identification and description of children with language difficulties;

a clearer idea of the link between language and literacy (6.9);

more information on how language development links to curriculum demands;

a clearer idea of the potential role of the speech and language therapist. For example, it was apparent from the practitioners' interviews that many teachers perceived that language could be taught as a curriculum subject separate from what routinely happens in the classroom (6.2.2.).

Given the issues raised in the session on the teaching of KAL, lead by Henrietta Dombey and Alison Sealey, perhaps RCSaLT should get involved or influence the TTA - particularly regarding the recommendations in the DfEE Research Report RR239 (presented above and also mentioned in February 2001, see Minutes 67, section 7.7(c).)